Federation Fallacies
by Madam Sakamoto
Summary: There are three types of fallacies. The first, Logos, deals with logic. The second, Pathos, deals with emotion. And the third, Ethos, deals with credibility. Here on the Enterprise, fallacies run amok among the crew. And there is, quite simply, nothing to be done about it. - OCs/Various 1k drabbles-
1. Logos

_1k exactly. Just what I was aiming for! :D_

_Happy belated birthday to _Methodical Madness_, and may she forgive me for the madness that ensues! XD_

* * *

The Starship _Enterprise_ was currently holding orbit over a planet that was unfamiliar to most of the ship's inhabitants. Captain Kirk had taken the usual suspects down to the milky blue surface of the planet as his landing party, leaving the ship in the care of one of his Commanders.

Ika was sitting in the Captain's chair with a relaxed posture and an expression that told she found all of this dull, but important. She understood the importance of babysitting, but that didn't mean she enjoyed it.

Sulu was keeping his eyes on the control board, but his hands were idle as they sat clasped in his lap. Chekov was doing the same, although his fingers were tapping out a tune on his knee, and Uhura was keeping an ear open for anything strange on the COMM.

The doors to the lift swished open and Spock breezed into the command deck, hands clasped uniformly behind his back, and his eyes glued on an undetermined point in the air before him. Ika didn't have to look up to see who had entered the deck, although her fellow crew members glanced fleetingly at the lift doors, she could tell from the footsteps. It was a perfectly-measured shift of weight from one foot to the other as the half-Vulcan moved across the command deck and took up his usual post on the opposite side from the lift.

"Anything to report?" Ika asked by way of greeting, eyes resolutely facing forward and not glancing towards the glossy black hair or alluringly pointed ears that she could just make out from the corner of her eye.

"If there were, Commander, I would have informed you of it immediately." He replied without missing a beat, not looking up from his work. "The Captain left you in charge, and therefore in charge of me as well. If you needed to know something, I would not hesitate in relaying the information to you."

Ika felt her grin spread slowly over her lips without her personal consent, warmth coiling in her chest at the idea of _Commander Spock_ reporting to her personally. She needed to not think about that so much, it was exceedingly distracting, and instead snapped her gaze onto Uhura when an alert sounded from her board.

"Hailing frequency from the landing party, ma'am," she reported dutifully, a hand hovering by her ear, "it's the Captain, he'll need a bit more time to complete the contract with the Ambassador, but they should be finished within the hour."

"Right!" Ika pushed herself to her feet, clapping her hands together and rubbing them for a moment. "Keep me posted, I'll be down in my room." She turned promptly on her heel, headed towards the lift, and was surprised when a presence settled at her shoulder and entered the lift with her.

Spock's usually stoic remained intact as the lift doors slipped closed and they started to move through the ship. "I was having a rather enlightening conversation with Lieutenant Sakamoto the other evening… She made mention of an event that transpired yesterday." He sent her a thoughtful, sidelong look and she tried to ignore the way his eyes bored into her. "Why did you not mention it sooner?"

She shrugged; a barely-there hop of her shoulders. "It didn't seem important."

He paused for a long, uncomfortably silent moment, and then spoke in a lower tone than before. "I have lived a great number of years, Commander Zachaire, and I have discovered something after spending so long walking among humans." He paused again, even more uncomfortably this time, and turned to face her properly. "You do not live as long as we Vulcans do, and therefore it follows logically that you should celebrate every year you have upon this earth." The tiniest, gone-in-an-instant, ghost of a smile flitted onto his lips for a fraction of a second before it vanished again and he was facing the lift doors with his head held high and his hands clasped behind his back. "In the vernacular, Ika, Happy Birthday."

And with that parting, and another sidelong, mildly sly look, he slipped through the lift doors and out into the hallway beyond. His posture was better than that of an iron rod; his chin tilted just the tiniest bit up, his hands clasped firmly together at the small of his back.

Ika watched him go with that warmth curling inside her chest again. She identified it as two parts pleased, one part suspicious, and one part mad at the strawberry blond medical officer who'd landed her in this situation to begin with. She huffed, but couldn't deny the flare of pleased embarrassment that rose in her chest at the idea that _Commander Spock_ of all people had just wished her a happy birthday, when everyone with the exception of Mizuki had already forgotten it.

The thing that really didn't follow, however, was when she got back to her room, closed the door, and promptly noticed the box sitting on her bed all innocently wrapped in subtly purple paper that shimmered in the light and a translucent black ribbon. She stared at it for a further thirty seconds before she deigned it safe to approach and slipped across the room to pull carefully at the ribbon.

The paper came away like water flowing under her fingertips, and the plain white box underneath looked as innocuous as any other plain white box Ika had ever seen. But this wasn't just any box, this was a present from the chief science officer, and shouldn't even be here in the first place.

Inside the box was something that made Ika's eyes widened as her mouth dropped open. The entirety of a galaxy was coiling inside the small glass sphere, the gaseous vapors collecting in different shapes before the broke apart again and started to swirl in new ways. Ika continued to stare as she pulled it from the box, confused about the gift.

It simply defied all logic.

* * *

_She said Spock was her favorite, so... There you go. X3_

_I had perhaps a bit too much fun with this, but considering that was part of the plan, I feel no guilt. XD_

* * *

Ika Zachaire _belongs to: _Methodical Madness

Mizuki Sakamoto_ belongs to: _Madam Sakamoto (aka Me)

Star Trek and its related characters _belong to: _Gene Roddenberry


	2. Pathos

_This ended at just over 1k, forcing me to cut some of it out and try again. X)  
Thankfully, none of the really good/important bits got snipped. :3_

* * *

The medical bay was quiet, but for the occasional displeased murmur from the chief medical officer as he sat behind his desk and looked through various experiment outcomes. He had been trying; recently, to come up with an inoculation to help with various sleep disorders (how the damn things had made it this long without unchecked McCoy still didn't know). There was one little nurse in particular (not to name any names, of course), that had trouble getting to and staying asleep, and as the officer in charge of this area of the ship, he thought it his duty to be sure that she got a good night's rest whenever possible.

And no, he had told Spock when the pretentious little upstart had commented, it had nothing to do with the "_deep-seated feelings you happen to be harboring for the girl_". The fact that Spock could make something like _feelings_ sound so clinical was, in Bones' eyes, proof that whatever higher power had crafted Vulcans had a sense of humor. He'd had to refrain from making any comment involving elves or over-active thyroids, and instead merely pretended he wasn't blushing when he dipped his head and switched the subject.

Spock was right, though, he did have "_deep-seated feelings"_ when it came to Lieutenant Mizuki Sakamoto, and he would be lying if he said otherwise. What could he say? She was cute, helpful despite her apparent aversion to blood and guts, and had the brightest smile McCoy had seen in a long time. She genuinely wanted to help, even if she wasn't sure how to, and it was her enthusiasm, perhaps above anything else, that Bones had first noticed about her.

So, when she had made an off-handed comment about having insomnia and having forgotten her pills the last time she was home (with a self-deprecating smile that did unhealthy things to McCoy's heart), he had naturally stepped in to try and help her. She deserved it, he rationalized despite knowing the truth, for all the times she'd helped him and all the effort she had put in. It made sense to try and do something like help her sleep more soundly.

And no, it had absolutely _nothing_ to do with the mental image Spock had subliminally slipped him of Mizuki asleep (how that had even happened he was still unsure, but he had started to be more wary of walking past the Science Officer in tight corridors), or the insane jealousy that had swept through him at the idea that _Spock_ of all people had gotten to see that before him.

He hummed low in the back of his throat as he came across one experiment in particular that looked promising. Of course, he would have to tweak the formula some more and adjust the dosage, but there was potential in that little card of information.

He smiled to himself, pleased over the progress (however small it might seem), and moved to the next experiment, only noticing the doors to the medical bay opening when someone rushed across the doorway to his office, hands over their face and shoulders shaking slightly.

Normally, Bones would have pretended he hadn't seen anything. It wasn't his place to dictate who came into the medical bay or for what reason, but this time it was different. This time the visitor was wearing the powder blue dress regulation for all nurses in the medical field, and there was only one nurse he knew with strawberry blond hair.

Mizuki was crying; he could hear that now that the doors had closed and cut off the sounds from outside. She wasn't sobbing, per say, but there were definitely tears involved.

He could picture it; her curled up on the far side of one of the beds that they used for patients, crying softly over whatever it was that had upset her, her knees draw up to her chest and her arms slung around her knees as she hid from the rest of the world. He'd seen her like that once before, but he'd buried the image as far down in his mind as he could, something like guilty always rearing his head when he remembered that time. He could have helped her then, but he hadn't.

He wasn't about to make _that_ mistake twice.

He waited perhaps thirty seconds before he pushed his chair back from his desk, standing carefully and moving quietly into the other room. He couldn't see her immediately, but then he spotted the very top of a strawberry head poking up from beside a bed at the very end of the ward, and he felt his heart clench. She _was_ hiding. He moved slowly down the ward, picking up a blanket on his way. He didn't want to scare her, of that he was sure, but there was no way he was letting her cry all on her own.

He finally reached the end of the bed she was hiding behind, and he felt his whole chest go cold. She was curled up the exact way he'd imagined, her head bent so far down that he couldn't see her face. He took another two steps forward and put the blanket over her shoulders, making her jump from the sudden contact. "Mizuki, what's the matter?" He wasn't naïve enough to ask _if_ something was wrong, that was obvious.

"I…" She paused, wiping at her eyes before she looked up at him. "I'm just having a bad night, Doctor."

He chuckled, sitting across from her, mimicking her pose. "Bad nights are when you stay holed up in your room with some chocolate from home," he teased, "this goes beyond that, don't you think?"

She laughed softly. "Maybe just a touch."

He nodded. "Well then, let's see if I can't make it better."

Any and all teasing he got from _anyone_ after this was worth seeing the faint tint of pink flood her cheeks and knowing _he _had caused the emotions now swirling through her eyes.

* * *

_Funny how something like this can come from an angst-bucket of a prompt. XD_


	3. Ethos

_Well this took entirely too long to get finished. XD  
__Apologies to _TachibanaEri_ and may she forgive me in time._

* * *

Eri tapped out a rhythm against her leg as she stood in the lift and headed up to the command deck. It had been a long day (what day wasn't when you had to run errands for the chief sciences officer?), and she was tired, but she still had to report. Scotty had given her the specs for their new trajectory, and how to adjust the engines accordingly, patted her on the head and then sent her on her way.

She didn't think that just because he was taller, he got to pat her on the head and call her _lass_ when she wasn't nearly young enough to warrant such behavior (although she'd be lying if she said she didn't enjoy it just a _little_).

So there she stood in the lift, humming under her breath and wondering whether Uhura had finally decoded that message she'd been muttering about all evening in the lounge several floors below. It was rare for someone to as gifted as her to struggle with a problem like that, but it wasn't exactly her fault… Scotty had scrambled the message on accident and then discovered the mistake, exploited it, and had Chekov read the whole thing again in Russian just to put Uhura off.

It would have been terrible if it hadn't been so absurdly entertaining.

The lift doors opened and Eri exited onto the deck, smiling at the COMMs officer when she turned to look at the newest occupant of the small space. Captain Kirk was, as always, half reclined in his seat and staring out the view screen at the empty void that surrounded them.

He glanced her way when she moved closer, a faint smile tugging at his lips when he recognized her. "Eri." He dispensed with her title on the principle of knowing her far too well for that (Eri wondered if her stature made her instantly seem like less of a threat, and not for the first time questioned why she hadn't gone into some sort of special ops in her training at the Academy). "What brings you to our humble company today?"

She chuckled, rolling her eyes. She had some… _doubts_ about the way her captain carried himself at times, but as a whole she was fond of him. Perhaps not as fond of him as she was of, say, the chief medical officer, but that was likely down to personal bias about pointy ears. "Scotty sent me up to give the new specs to our helmsman, sir." She replied, lifting the brightly colored chip in her hand slightly in order to indicate what she was referring to. "He was planning to send someone else," she explained when Kirk looked surprised at _her_ being the messenger of the information, "but they had an emergency in the engine room and it was an all-hands-on-deck sort of situation." She shrugged, used to being asked favors by the Scotsman. "Spock said he could spare me for a few minutes, so I offered to bring it up."

"Well, thank you." Kirk smiled brightly. "I appreciate it."

She dipped her head slightly, a motion she had picked up from Spock as way of ending a conversation, and traipsed over to where Sulu was sitting, resolutely staring at the view screen. She put a hand on the back of his chair, holding out the data between two fingers and waiting for him to take notice. "Sulu-san." She prompted when he still refused to acknowledge her.

He turned then, a sly smile on his lips as he took the chip from her. "Eri-chan." He greeted. "_O genkidesu ka_?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as he slipped the chip into its appropriate slot and waited for the system to recognize it.

"_Watashi wa yoku yo_." She replied, smiling brightly at the conversation. She'd told him, a bit shyly, that she was trying to improve her Japanese, and he'd quickly jumped at the chance to talk with her in his native tongue more often. "_Omae wa_?"

He winked as the chip finished loading and the specs were entered into the system successfully. "_Yoi ima._"

She nudged his shoulder playfully, earning herself a grin in return. She got on well with most of the officers aboard the Enterprise, but for whatever reason Sulu had taken a particular shine to her. He tended to step up and second her opinions when he believed them to be right, and ask for her opinion on different scenarios that had been presented to him in trial attack runs and practice maneuvers. Above all, though, he had coached her on her pronunciation and been sure to explain certain phrases when she didn't understand. "_Nani ka ta ni wa_?" She asked, smiling.

"_Iya, watashi wa sō wa omowanai._" He smiled brightly up at her, hands tucking together against his stomach as he leaned back a little to consider her. "_Arigatō_, Eri-chan."

She grinned, bowing to him. "_Dōitashimashite_, Sulu-san." She turned on her heel and made a bee-line for the lift, only pausing when her captain arched an eyebrow at her. She smiled brightly at him, nodded slightly, and then moved to the lift, trading places with the half-Vulcan on the other side.

"Spock," Kirk asked once Eri was safely bundled into the lift and headed back down, "how long has Eri been able to speak Japanese?"

The science officer arched an eyebrow at his captain. "For quite some time now, sir. Were you unaware of this fact?"

Kirk returned his gaze to the back of Sulu's head, eyebrows creeping up his forehead. "Well, I was until a moment ago."

"She has quite a passion for the language and culture, sir." Spock continued to elaborate, unaware of the circumstances surrounding the question. "She has started to become most fluent, recently."

Kirk hummed in the back of his throat, his eyes narrowing as Sulu adjusted the ship's course and started them towards there next destination. "I'm sure it's not the _only_ thing she has a passion for…"

* * *

_She said her favorite was Spock, but he was technically already taken, so this is more of a genfluff fic than anything with a good 'ol dose of adorable thrown in for good measure. I hope she'll forgive me in time. XD_

_For those of you unaware of the Japanese phrases, I apologize, and if you are aware and I got them wrong, I also apologize. XD_

* * *

"_O genkidesu ka" _means "_How are you?"_

_"Watashi wa yoku yo" _means _"I am well."_

_"Omae wa" _means_ "And you?"_

_"Yoi ima" _means _"Better now."_

"_Nani ka ta ni wa"_ means "_Anything else?_"

"_Iya, watashi wa sō wa omowanai" _means "_No, I don't think so."_

_"A_rigatō" means "_Thank you."_

_"Dōitashimashite_" means "_You're welcome_."

* * *

Eri _belongs to: _TachibanaEri_  
_


End file.
